[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 216 (Wednesday, December 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9195-S9196]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Tribute to Alyssa Brockington

  Mr. President, I would like to honor a member of my staff who has 
been such a valuable part of our office, Alyssa Brockington. She is 
joining us in the Chamber today.
  She has done such important work on healthcare and on economic 
justice. She is moving on to a new opportunity--again, to fight for a 
lot of the people whom we fight for in our office. She is moving on at 
the end of the year.
  She has been with our office for 5 years, working to expand access to 
healthcare for Ohioans, for people around the country and to bring down 
drug prices and healthcare costs, one of the major goals of Build Back 
Better. She has worked to make sure that not only can families afford 
to see a doctor but that the care they get actually makes them 
healthier and serves their needs. We know that so often that isn't the 
case for too many people, especially the most vulnerable.
  Last year, Ms. Brockington led efforts in the Senate, with me, to 
introduce a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis. And 
this is an effort, but what I love about this effort is that, in the 
first place, it really kind of happened. It started at the community 
level, in Hamilton County, Ohio, in the Cincinnati area. Other 
communities in the State began to pass resolutions to declare racism a 
public health crisis.
  She worked with leaders. She worked with advocates in these 
communities. She worked with organizations like the National Urban 
League and the YWCA and other Senate offices to introduce a resolution. 
It acknowledges the systemic barriers that people of color, especially 
Black Americans, continue to face in our healthcare system.
  The first step to solving this problem is recognizing its existence 
and understanding it. Some of us in this Chamber have read the 1619 
Project. It has just come out. It came out of a New York Times very 
lengthy, very detailed series of articles. This is what Ms. Brockington 
is helping to address, some of these endemic problems we face. She has 
always pushed our office to recognize the issues and the people that 
too often get overlooked in this town.

  Ms. Brockington led efforts in our office to work to prevent maternal 
mortality, working on bills like the Healthy Moms Act and the 
Supporting Best Practices for Healthy Moms Act.
  Mothers--we know especially young mothers of color--are dying at an 
alarming rate in this country. It is pretty unbelievable that so many 
women still die in childbirth in the richest country in the world. We 
have the best healthcare, to be sure, but it

[[Page S9196]]

doesn't, let's say, trickle down to everybody in this country.
  Despite having the best hospitals and the best doctors in the world, 
deaths are going up, not down. The legislation Alyssa has championed 
would help expand coverage options for pregnant mothers so they can get 
the care they need to have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.
  Thanks to her hard work and thanks to my colleague and my friend 
Senator Wyden, we included a provision from the Healthy Moms Act that 
would provide postpartum women with 12 months of Medicaid coverage in 
the Build Back Better bill.
  I mean, think about that--these women now who give birth will have 12 
months of Medicaid coverage--what that can mean, actually having 
insurance, not having to worry as your colicky baby at several weeks 
old is keeping you awake at night and suffering, and you are thinking 
also in your mind: How am I going to pay if I take her to the doctor? 
How am I going to pay? How am I going to afford this coverage?
  This does that.
  Another major contribution Alyssa has made to our office is her 
leadership informing and guiding our Economic Justice Task Force. 
Economic justice is central to everything we do for the people of Ohio.
  I would notice--and I know I am not allowed to wear this on the 
floor. So I will just hold it up, if that doesn't violate the rules.
  I ran in today and I met briefly with one of the workers who makes 
food in this building. They just joined and formed Local 23 of UNITE 
HERE. What that is going to mean for her life, what that is going to 
mean for workers, that they have somebody now representing them, 
bargaining for better wages, better benefits--we know the cafeteria 
workers here, the people who work to serve us, were making as little as 
$11 and $12 an hour.
  This Economic Justice Task Force will mean our office will do better 
to engage communities that are overlooked, to discuss and champion 
issues that are central to Ohio communities and to the workers here and 
all over the country, communities that don't often have much of a voice 
in the government.
  She has been the driving force behind this task force for 2 full 
years now, organizing meetings, facilitating discussions, encouraging 
colleagues to get involved and speak up. She coordinates with other 
staff. She plans quarterly events. She circulates ideas for feedback.
  One colleague said: All around, she is so inclusive and empathetic. 
As you work in this job and work in these jobs, having staff that is 
kind and inclusive and empathetic is sort of everything because they 
will treat the citizens of Alaska or Georgia or Ohio with that empathy 
and with that kindness. She has been that kind of asset to our office 
and to our work for the people of Ohio.
  We will miss her dearly. I know she will continue to do wonderful 
things to ensure more Americans get the compassionate and affordable 
and effective healthcare they need.
  I am excited. We hate to lose her, but we like her next challenge, 
and we are excited to see how far she will go.
  Thank you, Alyssa, for your service to Ohio and to our country. We 
will miss you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.